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EDM 2012 Winter Tour

2011-09-14T09:27:00.000-07:00

We will be playing shows in the EU in January 2012. Please be in touch if you would like us to play your city. Excited to see you.

Chicago Show Change

2011-07-12T12:12:00.000-07:00

EDM (formerly Early Day Miners) w/
Shipbuilding Co
The Faders
Reds and Blue

Thursday, July 21 at 9:00pm - July 22 at 2:00am

Pancho's
2200 N. California
Chicago, IL

an homage to one of our favorite bands

2011-07-02T12:06:00.000-07:00

Im sure by now some of our more music geeky fans have noticed a slight similarity of the covers of NIGHT PEOPLE and the cover of Factory Records' band SECTION 25's Always Now from 1981. The story is that Section 25 is one of EDM's favorite bands. (esp in the case of Jonathan, Dan and Marty) When brainstorming with Brian at Western Vinyl on what to do for album cover art we went back and forth for weeks coming up with different things, but nothing seemed to be perfect. Everyone in the band is big fans of Factory Records (Joy Division, New Order, Section 25 etc) and decided to look to their artwork for some inspiration. Jonathan immediately mentioned the Section 25 record as a record in which the cover art and the music blend perfectly, stark lettering with bold colors is very eye catching so we decided to run with it. Dan wasn't too keen on completely ripping off Section 25's cover art so we added a picture of him wearing very flamboyant clothing at a costume party in New Orleans. We thought the 2 graphics worked well together and went with it. Though EDM's music is not very similar, we hope that Section 25, who are actually still a band to this day, don't mind the homage that EDM has paid to them and their amazing 1981 album with NIGHT PEOPLE.

ps. Drastic Plastic Records have recently re-issued Forever Always on vinyl.

"Night People" album release show

2011-06-12T12:23:00.000-07:00

Wed, July 20th at the Bishop. Bloomington, IN w/ Dreamers of the Ghetto

Rock N Roll, Guest Appearances, $3.00 Pints!

Night People | 7.19.11

2011-06-04T21:59:00.000-07:00

This recording was meant to be purchased at a record store.

new record done

2011-02-12T08:16:00.000-08:00

Our new record is done. 8 songs, 40 minutes. We are calling it "Night People". Release forthcoming this summer. stay posted. in the meantime, please check out our drummer Marty's new band Dreamers Of The Ghetto. http://dreamersoftheghetto.tumblr.com/

I MADE THEM SMILE

2011-01-09T09:20:00.000-08:00

DREAMERS OF THE GHETTO STOP IN

2011-01-08T15:35:00.000-08:00

Dreamers of the Ghetto stopped in and sang a bit on our new recordings. Check them out: http://dreamersoftheghetto.tumblr.com/ Thanks in advance to Jonathan and Luke!

2011-01-07T09:04:00.000-08:00

S is for Special Agent Dale Cooper

2011-01-07T08:45:00.000-08:00

NEW MUSIC

2010-12-03T17:14:00.000-08:00

We are recording new songs in early January 2011 at Russian Recording with Mike Bridavsky in Bloomington.

WORKING TITLES:

Milking the Moon
Terrestrial Rooms
Turncoats
Stereo/Video
Open Bar
Temple Bar
Hold Me Down
Vineland

Music will be distributed shortly thereafter. Probably here.

Send photos, letters, advice, leaves, landscape renderings, found documents to:

THE CRICKET MACHINE
1150 Park BLVD
Baton Rouge, LA 70806

YOURS EDM

H I A T U S

2010-07-02T08:12:00.000-07:00

Daniel Burton is going to learn about plants and topography.

Drafting

2010-05-16T07:54:00.000-07:00

According to Wikipedia, we broke up. We cancelled some shows because I was broke financially and couldn't afford to take off work to play them. Not very rock and roll but honestly I find that side of the business - booking agents, club owners, etc to be pretty soul sucking these days. Maybe I'm the problem.

In other news, British Petroleum is doing a great job of destroying the world. Or at least the part of it that matters most to me.

Our friends Windsor for the Derby might have just made their best album yet. It'll be out soon on Secretly Canadian. It's very good - pick up a copy.

Dan

APRIL 2010 MIDWEST PERFORMANCES

2010-02-25T10:53:00.000-08:00

Thu April 1 Bloomington IN The Bishop Confirmed
Fri April 2 Columbus OH The Treehouse Confirmed
Sat April 3 Cincinnati OH Southgate House Confirmed

Thu April 8 St. Louis MO The Firebird Confirmed
Fri April 9 Champaign IL Cowboy Monkey Confirmed
Sat April 10 Indianapolis IN Radio Radio Confirmed
Sun April 11 Chicago IL Ronnie's Confirmed w/ Unwed Sailor

EDM to play "Local Music Git Down"

2010-01-03T07:58:00.000-08:00

We're really excited to perform at My Old Kentucky Blog's "Local Music Git Down" on January 23rd in Indianapolis! Come out to Local's Only and here some really excellent music. You might even see a cat in a space suit.

EDM makes NPR's top 10 best album covers of 2009

2009-12-31T10:59:00.000-08:00

NPR's All Songs Considered chose the cover of The Treatment as one of the top 10 album covers of 2009. Though most of the credit should go to Tierney who created the photo, I think we deserve credit for choosing it for the cover. Happy New Year from Early Day Miners. Look forward to a new record in 2010.

EDM @ The Bishop - Saturday, Dec 12

2009-12-09T14:54:00.000-08:00

tour over, SPACES demo version

2009-12-08T09:11:00.000-08:00

We are back from our EU tour!! All that can be said is that it was an eye opening experience. No damage done, no loss of limbs, no feelings hurt, it was a success. We are still the same old early day miners. Thank you to everyone who came out to see us in the old world.

Here is a demo version of Spaces, from the Treatment. Piano by Brian Winterman.

In UK this week

2009-11-28T16:28:00.001-08:00

30.11.2009 London (UK), Bush Hall (w/ Lightning Dust)
01.12.2009 Cardiff (UK), Clwb Ifor Bach (w/ Lightning Dust)
02.12.2009 Manchester (UK), Retro Bar
03.12.2009 Glasgow (UK), Captains Rest (w/ Lightning Dust)
04.12.2009 Dublin (IE), Whelans
05.12.2009 Brighton (UK), The Lectern (w/ Lightning Dust)
06.12.2009 London (UK), The Lexington

And if you have a floor that sleeps 5 cool Americans and one Czech who looks like James Dean, come talk to us.

That Which Cannot Be Named.

2009-11-03T10:20:00.000-08:00

If you are familiar with the promotional materials surrounding the release of "The Treatment" by The Early Day Miners, you've seen the phrases "reinvention", "born-again", and "alchemical transformation" tossed about. Rest assured, Early Day Miners is, in reality, EXACTLY the same.

The members of Early Day Miners are all still drunken, maladjusted hillbillies whose backwards aesthetic perspective, anti-social tendencies, and lack of iPhones have made it impossible for them to participate in the social networking activities crucial to success in modern America. Psychologically, the band members are simply unable to function outside of the isolation of their lovely, creepy home in Bloomington, Indiana. With the possibility of the band actually connecting with an audience on an authentic human level precluded, it was decided that the only hope of abating the overwhelming debt of their exorbitant productions was to create a one-sheet so compelling that a blowout of journalistic zeal would ensue. Everyone involved figured this could lead to the new release attaining the coveted status of "Best New Music" on popular netsite Pitchforkmedia.com.

In a series of focus groups and meetings with psychologists the group members' histories were intimately probed in an effort to uncover the juciest angle from which to market the record. This yielded the title, "The Treatment". It was as much a reference to the healing process of uncovering long sublimated emotional scars as it was an acknowledgement of the group's penchant for nonchalantly blasting through expanses of wealth while indulging their self-absorbed pretensions.

The themes of poverty, drug addiction, boom cars, gender identity, hospitalization, intentional communities and mayhem uncovered during these sweat lodges proved fertile.
The publicist compiled a mythology so potent, the new Early Day Miners press kit radiated the most powerful transmutational energy compiled into one slim volume since the Tao Te Ching.
With this masterwork of hustle set to recondition public opinion, prosperity was imminent.

EDM would indeed be reborn. At the band's lawyer's suggestion, it was decided that the group would be renamed. The new, fresh Miners could finally shed the post-core baggage they'd been struggling with since '93. "The Treatment" was set for release in 2008, in an effort to capitalize on the burgeoning twee-mo movement.

Bloomington, Indiana is a small town. Unfortunately, an early version of of the album announcement and the band's controversial sounding new moniker were leaked and found their way into the hands of the youth pastor at one of the Miner's place of worship. The hot and pathetic story of EDM had hit the southern Indiana streets, much to the mortification of the seemingly wholesome midwestern boys' Baptist Nanas and 2nd cousins.

An intervention was held by the group's families. The modern, freaky EDM had ruined their standing in the community. The only way to redeem their loved ones was to return to the repressed projection that had become the hallmark of their public persona. Against the wishes of their management, the group reluctantly agreed to forsake glory, tone down their bio and bring back the traditional name. The release date was pushed back another year to let the whole thing blow over.

And thus the Early Day Miner's story comes full circle. Their newest record, and their failed efforts at publicizing it remain a true reflection of their convoluted reality. They exist in a discordant universe of catharsis and repression, stasis and elevation, exuberant puritanism, and overwrought simplicity. In a culture designed to be disposed of, where escapism is the only escape, EDM turns its naive gaze inward and stupidly asks "What's the point?", when everyone know that nobody cares.

But like the group, this questionably meaningful saga moves onward. The new name divined from this spiritual journey was copyrighted and licensed to another band that has since gone on to great success and profit. For legal purposes this name can't be revealed, but be assured, the usage fee paid to EDM's parent company has turned out to be enough cash that these uninsured dudes can still afford to visit that one doctor in Bloomington who is unusually liberal with Xanax prescriptions. The band hopes this will be enough to fuel the creation of one more album.

Here is a list of potential band names that were rejected by the label:

Units
Physicist
Spirochetes of Syphilis
Windows '95
Narcotic Latrine
Throngngngng
Fluid
Col' Doodie
Crepascular Motorcade
The Concept of "The Spectacle"
Black Jesus II
The American Way
Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot
Chicks
Black Chicks
Black Wolf
BLK FLG
Daniel Burton and the New Early Day Miners
Daniel Burton and the Original Early Day Miners
Piss
Vulvo
Nirva-na-na
Pitchfork
Funky Gruyere
A Blimp Ride Over the Noravank Monastery Complex with Estella Warren
Fish

Tierney Gearon THE TREATMENT artist

2009-10-20T20:00:00.000-07:00

A lot of people have been asking us about the cover art for The Treatment. The photo was taken by Los Angeles artist Tierney Gearon. We were privileged that she allowed us to use this photo for the cover The Treatment. It comes from her exhibition at the Ace Gallery called EXPLOSURE. There is available a documentary about her work The Mother Project. I got it from Netflix. She is an amazing artist and photographer and we urge you to discover her. http://www.tierneygearon.com/

EDM on Indiana NPR

2009-10-19T19:38:00.001-07:00

EDM was recently featured on Indiana NPR

listen here

European dates in

2009-10-12T18:53:00.000-07:00

Here they are. We are really excited to play. The 15 through 20 are in Italy, more dates coming soon, Possible France and/or Belgium.

13.11.2009 Madrid (ES), Tanned Tin Festival
14.11.2009 Barcelona (ES), Tanned Tin vs. Primavera
15.11.2009 Reggio Emilia (IT), Officina delle Arti
16.11.2009 Rovigo (IT), Porcupine
17.11.2009 Seregno (IT), Tambourine (acoustic)
19.11.2009 Roma (IT), Locanda Atlantide
20.11.2009 Pisa (IT), Caracol
21.11.2009 Freiburg (DE), Swamp
22.11.2009 Heidelberg (DE), Karlstorbahnhof (w/ Scout Niblett)
23.11.2009 Wiesbaden (DE), Schlachthof
24.11.2009 Berlin (DE), NBI
25.11.2009 Leipzig (DE), UT Connewitz (w/ Efterklang & Jersey)
27.11.2009 Utrecht (NL), Le Guess Who Festival
28.11.2009 Offenbach (DE), Hafen 2
30.11.2009 London (UK), Bush Hall (w/ Lightning Dust)
01.12.2009 Cardiff (UK), Clwb Ifor Bach (w/ Lightning Dust)
02.12.2009 Manchester (UK), Retro Bar
03.12.2009 Glasgow (UK), Captains Rest (w/ Lightning Dust)
04.12.2009 Dublin (IE), Whelans
05.12.2009 Brighton (UK), The Lectern (w/ Lightning Dust)
06.12.2009 London (UK), The Lexington

tour photos

2009-10-07T06:40:00.001-07:00

On the tour blog. It got real crazy with long drives and no internet. but I will post pics instead. We took a lot of those.

Whole Foods

2009-09-26T08:08:00.000-07:00

3 out of 4 Early Day Miners are vegetarian. Whole foods has made touring gastronomically possible. Their seaweed salad from the cold bar is fantastic.

lonely on the road

2009-09-26T08:02:00.000-07:00

It gets lonely. John found a friend in West Virginia.

Milwaukee

2009-09-26T07:49:00.001-07:00

This is a city is the real deal working class all the way. People do like their liquor here. A bar on every corner and for every corner, a bar. Though im not sure what a winter would be like here, but I would think it would be a tad more chilly than Southern Indiana. Mad Planet is a little dive bar in the River West area. Gentrification is full effect. Milwaukee is Decibully’s hood, Hometown boys bringing out friends. Take it where you can get it. Nice town, Milwaukee.
John getting swallowed by a giant neon Octopus at Mad Planet

Pizza sampling

2009-09-22T17:02:00.000-07:00

Hey, heres a picture of Dan, John and Marty sampling some pizza in Madison Wisconsin. Dan looks skyward for something better.

Columbus to Brooklyn.

2009-09-22T14:58:00.001-07:00

I have given up driving for a while preferring that Marty doing some driving on the turnpike. Western Pennsylvania has potential to be very beautiful but they have opted to go the Walmart emptiness.. I am trying to imagine what it looked like without ugly malls and imposing billboards and it looks great.
We are excited to play Brooklyn tonight. Our friend Mats from Japan emailed me and said he was going to be at our show. Whenever we play New York he flies from Japan to see us. He’s a real great guy and he’s a big fan. We saw him last in Indianapolis a few years ago. Last nights show at Treehouse in Columbus was strange, but we had a great time. The club is located in an alley and there is a tree growing right in the middle of it. The bartender was playing his portable record player on top of the bar. A nice mix of exotica and punk. The club had a loungey vibe. We got the chance to fully check out Decibully and realized that they are a really great live band. We played a set of mostly old songs to mix things up a bit.
Skinny Puppy in the mix on the turnpike. Amish ladies at the Starbucks. Getting lost off the Pennsylvania turnpike. These are some observations.

Wisconsin

2009-09-21T08:24:00.000-07:00

Marty giving the van a clean fresh window
Because I have a frustrated trucker streak in me I offered to drive. I would be willing to drive the whole tour if they let me. The trip from Chamapaign to Madison was a fairly painless one. Our tour van, on loan to us from Jason Groth of Magnolia Elec Co., has cruise control so it was a breeze. Our GPS system, on loan to us from Heath Byers has been a great addition to the band though she seems to get confused at times, especially coming out of a parking lot. She loves to make us turn left. On the way Dan played for me the new On Fillmore record Extended Vacation which he recorded last year with Darin Gray and Glen Kotche (Wilco). On Fillmore have put out a few records over the years, but this one is far and beyond the best I have heard. Straight up exotica on drugs. Arthur Lyman takes a “trip”. It was very enjoyable because Dan narrarated the record for us explaining to us about how he mic’d certain instruments they were playing and what was happening during certain passages. When the record comes out im sure to buy it. Nice cover too.

John forgot to bring his guitar so he is using one of Dan’s for the duration of the tour. He actually didn’t really forget it, he just brought Dan’s tele because they have similar cases. FYI, it is impossible to find guitar strings in Madison Wisconsin after 5pm.

We met Decibully, our tourmates tonight. Nice gentlemen from Milwaukee. Lots of gear, beards, indie rock. I think its going to be an interesting 10 days. We play in their hometown tonight. The show at Frequency was decent. The festival provided pizza and beer for the bands. There was macaroni and cheese pizza, pizza with french fries and black pepper infused beer. I guess they were trying to impress us with their exoticness. We checked out Atlas Sound after our show. It was solo Bradford and felt very intimate. Hes a talented guy and he knows it.

Saw a guy smoking crack outside the club. That’s intense.. Moreso then pizza with macaroni on it.

Milwaukee here we come. Coming up next House On The Rock Wisonsin!

Treatment Tour Day One

2009-09-17T21:51:00.000-07:00

Picking up merch from Secretly Canadian
Not too much to write about so I will just post some pics. Smooth start to tour. Fun show in Champaign/Urbana. Finally got to meet our booking agent Seth Fein over at Nicodemus who actually put together the Pygmalion festival.
Didn't get a chance to meet the band we are touring with, Decibully, but chatted with lots of nice bands. Tomorrow we head for Madison and hopefully some more interesting news to report. Time to go to bed.....
John "networking" with some local color

Marty loosens up with a little game of pinball at the club

Welcome to Champaign/Urbana!!

Relaxing in the green room after the show

Tshirts and records

2009-09-17T10:06:00.000-07:00

Ok, we just got our awesome new T-shirts for tour. The design was by Pete Schreiner (bass/drums Magnolia Elec Co., Coke Dares etc etc) and we had them screened by Jarod Isenberger over at at In Case Of Emergency Press. These shirts are a limited batch, so grab one fast. I know this is more information than you need, but I can't emphasize enough what a great community of artists, musicians and all around great people there is here in Bloomington. We will also have copies of our new record The Treatment in both CD and LP format. I hate being "that guy" and saying that vinyl sounds superior to cds, but god damn, The Treatment does sound better on my stereo on record than it does on CD. They both sound great, but of course I am "that guy". Here is an updated list of our tour stops starting tonight at the Pygmalion Festival in Champaign Ill.

09/17/09 Urbana, IL - Pygmalion Music Festival
09/18/09 Madison, WI - Forward Music Festival
09/19/09 Milwaukee, WI - Mad Planet
09/20/09 Columbus, OH - The Treehouse
09/21/09 Brooklyn, NY - Bruar Falls
09/22/09 Cambridge, MA - TT The Bears
09/23/09 Philadelphia, PA - KungFu Necktie
09/24/09 Arlington, VA - IOTA
09/25/09 Pittsburgh, PA - Thunderbird Cafe
09/26/09 Cincinnati, OH - MidPoint Music Festival

The Interview Project

2009-09-15T17:33:00.000-07:00

This is one of David Lynch's recent projects. Nice little snapshots across the country. Check it out.

http://interviewproject.davidlynch.com/www/#/all-episodes/036-lessie

THE TREATMENT MIX-TAPE #3

2009-09-09T18:42:00.001-07:00

As we get ready for Autumn and for our tour of the USA and Europe, we find and play our records that will get us through the cold Indiana winter.

EDM TREATMENT MIX-TAPE #3 by Jonny Yuma

Portrait of Jan With Moon and Stars - BILL NELSON (1983)
Just A Machine - ADOLPHSON & FALK (1983)
Vacuum Blow - ECSTASY OF ST. THERESA (MIRROR FX REMIX) (1994)
Romance Of The Telescope - ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES IN THE DARK (1983)
Cocoon - TATTOO HOST VISION ON! (1980)
Dock Boggs - CALIFONE (2002)
Im Going In A Field - IVOR CUTLER (1967)
Liquid Reflective - MAIN (1994)
Don't Have To Be So Sad - YO LA TENGO (2003)

The mix can be downloaded as well in MP3 form HERE

for the curious

2009-09-02T16:57:00.000-07:00

Heres our stage plot for our US and EU tour. Marty needs Dan's vocals and some of my bass in his monitor FYI.

Dan talks about The Treatment on the radio

2009-08-31T17:39:00.000-07:00

Listen to Dan talk about The Treatment on WFHB. Recorded August 31 on WFHB, Bloomington Indiana. 2 songs from The Treatment bookend the interview "So Slowly" and "In The Fire" ENJOY!

WFHB Interview. Early Day Miners by Jonny Yuma

thanks to Jim Manion over at WFHB for the interview.

First review of The Treatment

2009-08-04T17:01:00.001-07:00

Our friends over at CHROMEWAVES have given the Treatment a pretty nice little review.

The Treatment is finally here

2009-08-04T09:21:00.000-07:00

l to r: Jonathan "Jonny" Richardson, Dan Burton, John Dawson, Marty Sprowles

Early Day Miners Explore the Powers of Reinvention On New Album, The Treatment

Reinvention is usually something that Midwesterners only do by leaving the Midwest: moving to New York City, joining the Peace Corps, or otherwise escaping their current locale. Small town life tends to define you outside of yourself, leaving reinvention to only be possible when a state of anonymity can be reached. Sometimes whether easy or not, reinvention must occur for life to endure. The Early Day Miners new album, The Treatment, speaks to the powers of reinvention in more than one way. After years of building gorgeous and sprawling guitar rock epics, EDM has trimmed their sound into shorter, tighter songs with a decidedly pop edge to them. They have also slimmed their lineup down from as many as eight members, to the lean four-piece outfit of Dan Burton (guitar, vocals, keys), John Dawson (guitar), Marty Sprowles (drums) and Johnny "Yuma" Richardson (bass). Even in the album's lyrics, the yearning allure of reinvention is ever present. We now offer the first dose of The Treatment "So Slowly", a song that speaks of the need to move forward, while not wanting to give up on the past. It is a difficult position that we can all relate too, but also a position that often leads to some of the most fruitful moments of discovery.

Early Day Miners The Treatment will be available on Secretly Canadian September 22 in the US, and September 21 in the UK. And check out Early Day Miners on tour in September.

NEW MP3: Early Day Miners "So Slowly"

"SO SLOWLY" SONG LYRICS:
Summertime goes by so slow / All the fear you hold inside for one another / In my house I know your ghost / In my soul you’ll stay for sure / Summertime goes by so slow / Summertime goes by so slow / I don’t want to take it / All this love you have for others / I don’t want to break it / All the trust you hold in others / Everything you can’t hold in your hands / All this gold you can’t redeem in any land / In my house I know your ghost / In my soul you’ll stay for sure / Summertime goes by so slow / Summertime goes by so slow / I don’t want to take it / All this love you have for others / I don’t want to break it / All this trust you hold in others / I don’t want to take it, all this love / I don’t want to break it, all this trust

TOUR DATES:
8/05/09 Chicago, IL - Bottom Lounge w/ Tacoma Narrows
08/07/09 Bloomington, IN - The Root Cellar w/ Yardwork
09/02/09 Bloomington, IN - Russian Recordings - (Live on WFHB 91.3FM)
09/17/09 Urbana, IL - Pygmalion Music Festival w/ BLK JKS and Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band
09/18/09 Madison, WI - Forward Music Festival w/ Andrew Bird and Waaves
09/19/09 Milwaukee, WI - Mad Planet w/ Decibully
09/20/09 Columbus, OH - The Treehouse w/ Decibully
09/21/09 Brooklyn, NY - Bruar Falls w/ Decibully
09/22/09 Cambridge, MA - TT The Bears w/ Decibully
09/23/09 Philadelphia, PA - TBD w/ Decibully
09/24/09 Arlington, VA - IOTA w/ Decibully
09/25/09 Pittsburgh, PA - Thunderbird Cafe w/ Decibully
09/26/09 Cincinnati, OH - MidPoint Music Festival

LINKS:
Album info on The Treatment
Press Photos
Artist Page
Myspace
Artist Website

CONTACT:
U.S. Publicity: Abe Morris, abe@secretlycanadian.com, 812-961-2571, AIM: Pubrocks
U.K. Publicity: Manish Agarwal, manish@secretlycanadian.com
U.S. Booking: Seth Fine, seth@nicodemusagency.com
U.K./ E.U. Booking: Andreas Oberschelp, andreas.oberschelp@puschen.net
U.S. General Inquiries: Jon Coombs, jcoombs@secretlycanadian.com
U.K. General Inquiries: Tom Davies, tom@secretlycanadian.com
U.S. Retail: Jacqui Refice, jacqui@scdistribution.com
U.S. Synch Licensing: Lyle Hysen, lyle@bankrobbermusic.com
Canada Synch Licensing: Julie Blake, julie@thirdsidemusic.com
U.K. Synch Licensing: David McGinnis, DMcGinnis@mutesong.com

Treatment US Tour dates so far

2009-07-29T20:34:00.000-07:00

Here you go folks. Its small but mighty!! EU tour dates coming soon.

Th Sep 17 Urbana IL Pygmalion Music Festival
Fr Sep 18 Madison WI Forward Music Festival
Sa Sep 19 Milwaukee WI Mad Planet
Su Sep 20 Columbus OH The Treehous
Mo Sep 21 Brooklyn NY Bruar Falls
Tu Sep 22 Cambridge MA TT The Bears
We Sep 23 Philadelphia PA
Th Sep 24 Arlington VA IOTA
Fr Sep 25 Pittsburgh PA Thunderbird Café
Sa Sep 26 Cincinnati OH MidPoint Music Festival

THE TREATMENT MIX-Tape #2

2009-07-12T09:23:00.000-07:00

In May of 2005 EDM toured Europe. Offenbach Germany is a date we played that always remains in my mind. When we arrived there it was sunny and outside the club there was this little park that was on the local river (cant remember the name of the river) where people were sunbathing, drinking, playing frisbee, eating, laughing and doing things that people in parks do. The setting was, in my mind, idyllic. There were 2 djs with turntable set ups blasting the most beautiful music. Tangerine Dream, NEU!, Kraftwerk, Cluster as well as other cuts that I could not recognize. I was amazed that I was in Germany, sitting in a park near a river, drinking German beer and listening to this amazing uniquely German music. It was dreamlike. I have tried to replicate the sounds (but mostly the feelings) that I heard that day in the July EDM mixtape. Enjoy.

EDM MIX-TAPE JULY 2009 by Jonny Yuma

Almost - HARMONIA 76
Cosmic Joy A - COSMIC JOKERS
Satz Gerwintter - KLAUS SCHULTZE
Sunrise In The Third System - TANGERINE DREAM
Lunarscape - GALACTIC EXPLORERS
Hallogallo - NEU!

I have uploaded it HERE in MP3 form as well.

shots of the shoot

2009-06-29T10:38:00.000-07:00

Here is a collage from our photoshoot. Theres a neat little feature in Picasa that lets you make collages. These arent the actual promotional photos we will be using but just me documenting the afternoon. It was very hot and I was a bit hungover but lots of fun. The results were great.

The Treatment Mix-Tape #1

2009-06-25T11:00:00.000-07:00

While THE TREATMENT gets the treatment at Secretly Canadian we made this mix-tape for you to listen to. Inspiration comes in all forms like other people's music that we love.

ENJOY IT HERE
Dockland - CHINA CRISIS
30th Century Man - CATHERINE WHEEL
Helicopter - FRIDGE
Oasis - HAPPY MONDAYS
Wasted - BLANCMANGE
Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime - THE FIELD
Nocturnal Me - ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN
Harriet Brown - OPAL
You Set My Soul - THE TELESCOPES
The Ghost We Left Is Back - THROWING STARS
It Takes A Muscle To Fall In Love - SPECTRAL DISPLAY

pterrodactyl video

2009-06-17T08:50:00.001-07:00

We are playing with the band Pterodactyl on July 4 at The Vollrath in Indianapolis, here is their new video. They are an amazing band and we are psyched to be playing with them. They have a blog too: http://pterodactylband.blogspot.com/

Pterodactyl--"No Sugar" Music Video from Pterodactyl on Vimeo.

The Queen is Dead

2009-06-12T09:03:00.000-07:00

This Smiths shirt ended up in our stuff when we got back from our Dayton show. If its yours, send me your address and I will mail it to you and will send you a copy of our cd "Stateless" that we did with Unwed Sailor a few years back. I think its out of print too. So sorry we took your shirt, I was going to keep it because The Queen Is Dead is my favorite Smiths record but its a size small and I wear large. If I dont hear from anyone after a few weeks I will send it to the first person who says they want it. I will include the cd too.

Causeway glow, photographs

2009-06-11T20:27:00.000-07:00

Alligator Alley

2009-06-11T08:54:00.000-07:00

I'm hanging with my family in Mobile, Al. Looking forward to some good seafood tonight and a few mixed drinks. Our hotel is right on the bay. It's humid and damp and my room has a view of Interstate 10 and a canal called "alligator alley". This is the stuff Barry Gifford writes about.

Babies In The Bardo

2009-06-10T21:07:00.000-07:00

Everyone in the Early Day Miners has side projects. Listen to my solo project Babies In The Bardo

ack, we been hacked

2009-06-07T13:41:00.000-07:00

If you have visited our proper website you have probably noticed that its unsafe to enter. This problem sucks but we are getting to it as quickly as we can. When the new site is up and running I will let everyone know. In the meantime, heres our Myspace page . Ciao.

UPDATE!!! The website is now safe to enter.

NYC and beyond

2009-06-07T13:07:00.000-07:00

Heres a picture of us live in NYC a few years back. Cant wait to get back there in September. New York is truly the city of cities, there is nothing like it. We will be heading there again in September in support of The Treatment. Our USA tour is in the planning stages, if you are interested in seeing us in your town, drop us a line, and yes, there will be a EU tour in November, cant wait for that!! In the meantime, I want to post a live track from us live in the WFHB studios performing the song Perish Room which was originally on our Sonograph EP on Acuerla Discos. Unfortunately I think the cd is out of print at the moment. Perish Room was used in the NBC show Quarterlife. I think it was in the closing credits or something in one of their episodes. Perish Room has vanished from our live set as of late, but I have a feeling it will return. Here is the live version of Perish Room. Here is the ORIGINAL version of Perish Room from the Sonograph EP Enjoy.

Thank you Romance of Young Tigers

2009-06-07T12:31:00.001-07:00

While I struggle with how to embed a music file on our blogspot I thought I would talk about Dayton Ohio and the band Romance Of Young Tigers. We played a show with them there last weekend and it was a real nice surprise. Unfortunately, this show was to be the Tigers final show. The band is splitting up because they are all moving on to get on with their lives. I guess they have outgrown Dayton. RofYT are an ambient guitar/keys band and are quite stunning to listen to. Ambient soundscapes ala Belong or Stars Of The Lid. Their live set was mesmerizing and they are great hosts. Visit their myspace page.

Instrumentals

2009-05-23T15:20:00.000-07:00

Howdy from Bloomington and happy Memorial Day. A day full of cookouts, beer drinking, some fireworks and just being with friends. 3 day weekends are always a fun time, wanted to give you an EDM instrumental goodie. First a little background on EDM instrumentals. Our label Secretly Canadian suggest that we create instrumental versions of all of our songs for commercial use in radio spots, commercials, tv shows etc. We have in our vaults instrumental versions of all of our songs from all of our previous releases. Sometimes I will throw them on the listen. Its funny, but without the vocals the songs tend to take on a life of their own and it gives us the chance to listen to the music without being distracted by vocals. Its not that Dan's singing is distracting, but sometimes you just want to hear the music. Here's one from All Harm Ends Here, Townes. Pictured is us circa 2005 at a defunct venue in Bloomington known simply as "Church" Link resides in comments. Enjoy.

Early Day Wiki

2009-05-20T21:02:00.001-07:00

Been updating the Early Day Miners wikipedia page. Some smartass hacked (edited?) it and messed it up pretty bad. It was funny the things they wrote, I hated to change it, but it was in desperate need of an updating as it was. Check out the new page here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_day_miners. New band news? Why yes. We are getting ready for some promotional photos for The Treatment and shooting some ideas around with a local photographer. She has some really great ideas and we are excited. Speaking of photos, heres a shot of us at in the WFHB studios playing live. Checking back with our blog as we will be posting some never before heard EDM tracks. Outakes, live tracks, radio only songs, as well songs that never made it on to any of our records. We are digging deep into our vaults for this blog. Hang tite.

2009-05-16T09:00:00.000-07:00

Today we play at Luminary Arts in St. Louis. Looking forward to checking out the city a little bit, hopefully we'll have some spare time. A friend suggested checking out CBGB because of it's shuffleboard game. I'm a big fan of dive bars with air hockey and the like. She also spoke highly of the Way Out Club, a great name that is. If you see me out at one of the establishments, do by me a mixed drink. - Daniel

more Offshore Euro Tour

2009-05-14T21:21:00.000-07:00

February 2nd Rouen, France @ Emporium Galorium: Wake at 8am. Long 7 hour drive ahead of us. Martina comes in to serve breakfast to us. Strange, good tomato basil spread on rolls, and tea. There is also goose lard, but no takers. Get in the van. Arrive in Rouen much later. Streets are narrow, buildings are old. It's hilly. Unload into old tiny concrete dungeon of a bar. There's an old well in the bar. We eat chocolate tarts and mushroom quiche, drink red wine and scotch. Small soundcheck then walk to hotel where I shower. Tub has funny bump in it, to sit on? Back to club to eat strange vegan salad with beans, apples, raisins and some sort of lettuce or cabbage. There's also pizza with salmon, and chocolate cake and more quiche, and bread. We then walked down to most beautiful cathedral ever, and Daun found designer boots on the street. We see old clock that doesn't keep time. We see the Seine. Don't make it to site of Joan of Arc's burning. Rouen is "City of A Hundred Spires." Capital of Normandy in 12th Century. Back to the show. French Interpol-sounding band opens for us. I drink caipirinhas and watch from the bar via video surveillance. The boys in EDM are drooling over the bartender in red. The show is loud. John is loud. Mark breaks a stick then grabs 2 by accident. Dan says angrily to Daun, "If you and Donny would stop flirting on stage..." He's annoyed. Weird show, maybe our worst sounding. Drink more Caipirinhas, and scotch then head to the hotel for wine. The wine is quickly drained so it's off to bed.

February 3rd Utrecht, Netherlands @ Ekko: Croissants, baguettes, tea, jam and cheese for breakfast in hotel lobby. Then straight to the van loft to sleep. Or maybe that was yesterday. Can't remember too well. Listen to Le Tigre and Dan hates it. It's understandable. Load in at Ekko. "No, we don't have our own sound engineer." We set up the gear and then stand around outside waiting for Mira to return. He doesn't, so we do LONG soundcheck. Change tom tom drum head. Eat delicious Indonesian noodles and rice with tofu. Lincoln, Nebraska band Eagle Seagull is also playing. We walk to Strowis hostel. Take nap. Back to club at 9:15. Utrecht has canals everywhere. There are prostitutes on boats in the canals. There are glass-roofed boats for tourists to view the city. It has the tallest tower in Netherlands, and you can see Amsterdam from the top. We play great! So fun, and the crowd is large and attentive and we sell out of merch. Drinks are expensive and I'm broke, but promoter buys a round of local ecological beer. It's good! 300 people are there by 2 am, and the disco is packed. Door man pisses me off when I'm loading out, and the coat-check guy from North Carolina tries to pretend he's not an American and tries to charge me to leave my coat with him even though the club is paying us to be there. Fuck that! Friendly Dutch girl on the dance floor clues me in to the music that's being played. Vive La Fete and Goose from Belgium. It's a strange mix. Daun and I dance, but everyone else wants to leave. They're high. Mark, Daun and I check out lovely downtown in the dark. We're tired and we have to pee, so we find our way back to the hostel to sleep.

Offshore Euro Tour

2009-05-09T20:04:00.000-07:00

January 31st Groningen, Netherlands @ Vera: Head back to Haus 73 to be served breakfast by Germany's Kirsten Dunst. Bread and spreads and o.j. Load out and drive to Groningen. We're all hungover and sleep-deprived. We listen to The Unforgetable Fire and New Order and everything is going to be okay. Netherlands is below sea level. We pass sheep, and farms and canals. Pass a big Extreme Jenga-shaped building. Bicyclists everywhere, big bike lanes, houseboats on canal. Show is at big venue called Vera, where Joy Division, The Cure, Gang of Four, everyone has played. Courtney proposed to Kurt here, and At The Drive-in broke up here. Pro sound system had to be assembled before sound check. We set up. Take nap. Eat Curry! w/tofu. Take shower (it turns off every 20 seconds, annoying). Then soundcheck. Then Daun and I roam the cool streets. Stop to photograph church and 20 ft. statue of a man with a cape and a sword. Pass a restaurant boat. Nobody locks there bikes here. Streets are brick. It's like Never Never Land, so clean and utopic. Then we grab beers from backstage and hit stage. They record the show and give us a CD. Some of the crew want to get legal weed, but I'm tired so I go to my room. It has comics on the walls. Dan stays in the white/Pope room.

February 1st Cologne, Germany @ Kulturbunker: Eat bread and jelly for breakfast at Vera. Drive to record store in Koln where Dan is to play an in-store. My German friend Felix greets me upon entering! Surprise! It's a vegan cafe, with zines and handcrafts and records. No Vive La Fete unfortunately. Dan plays in-store while the rest of us walk to an old entrance to the city, and a big cathedral. We also stop at one of the dozens of shops that say "Doner Kebap." It's delicious. Then we pick up Dan to go to Kulturbunker, a community-center type place. It's a nearly windowless former bomb shelter built by the Nazis. The promoter is freindly, middle-aged nerd. He gives us a tin of cookies. He does our soundcheck with the help of his sidekick, and it's terrible. He's clueless. The monitors are buzzing from the lights being hooked up to the same power supply. We go for dinner at Turkish doner kebap shop. I get a big, hot, bitter falael sandwich. I'm stuffed. Back to venue. Talk to Alexander Amsterdam. He's the opener from Dusseldorf. There are about 12 people at the show. Promoter gives us the keys to the venue. Felix never showed with the vegan treats he had promised. We cancel the hotel we were going to have to pay 100 euro for and we sleep at the venue for free instead. We build beds by pushing chairs together. Daun and Mark go out to the punk bar to drink, smoke and play baby foot. Mark stumbles in late and shares my king-sized chair-bed. Daun snores loud, and Mark scratches his throat. The chairs are noisy as I toss and turn.

Offshore Euro Tour

2009-05-04T18:25:00.000-07:00

January 29th Leipzig, Germany @ UT Cinema Connewitz: Rachel wakes me up. We get a croissant and take the subway to the Berlin wall. It's cold, but the skies are blue. We see various impressive old churches, museums, TV tower. Go into Deutsch Guggenheim and look at the pointilism and expressionism exhibit. This is all great, but Rachel isn't quite sure what all the cool historic buildings are. Back to apartment, then to cafe for pizza, then to cool cemetary with mausoleums. We determine Donny's last name could mean something like "Corn Master." Then off to Leipzig. Leipzig is neat, with ornate buildings, big blue pipes above ground running through the city, lots of graffiti. Venue is a cold, hundred year old theatre in disrepair. We snack, then soundcheck on huge stage. Then to small cafe to wait for some food. Good music (Vive La Fete) on stereo while we wait. Food is vegan and good. Beer is bitter and plentiful. Local mogwai-esque band play while I sleep in a makeshift bed I built out of chairs. Show is weird for me as I was tired and the sound on stage was bad. Our projections were huge however, and looked great. We walk to promoter's apartment. He has a Turn Pale 7inch, and a Defiance, Ohio full-length. Sleep on mattresses on the floor. Daun, John and Mark stay across town in high school kids bedroom and listen to Pink Floyd. Tomas goes home today and is replaced by Mira. Tomas is so excited to be going home. You will be missed Tomas.

January 30th Hamburg, Germany @ Haus 73: Wake, take a washcloth/sink bath, shave, and then listen to records. Nice breakfast of tofu scramble, fruit salad and bread prepared by our host Toby. I do the dishes then we hit the road. Sleep. Arrive at Haus 73. Small stage in basement room that's tiled and looks like a bathroom or a subway station. Soundcheck then head to 3rd floor "backstage" where we eat good, vegetarian dish with bread, salad and wine. Promoter tells us about Germany's economy. Photo studio upstairs makes for strange bright flashes outside the window. Start playing at 9:15pm, end at 10:30pm curfew. Walk to our housing for the night, it's a strange student-housing type place. The lights don't work. 4 mattresses on the floor. We walk in search of bar. Head through the Reeperbahn (red-light district). Go in lame, sketchy dance club to pee. Then we head through a neighborhood in search of a particular bar Dan knew about in the punk part of town. We never find the right bar, but instead stop in this bar with no name and no people in it. Drinking, talking about music, eating bretzels with sesame seeds. John gets free shots from the bartenders/owners by dissing America. Mark gets free shots too. Bar owners are super friendly. The place is new, red, dimly lit, nice chandeliers, couches, smooth danceable world music is playing. W.C. is downstairs in the dark. Apple flavored hooka is shared. We're all drunk. We get food from all-night middle eastern eatery. We're lost and can't find our way back. Dan eventually gets good directions from a hotel clerk. Back to accomodations to sleep.

Offshore Euro Tour

2009-04-30T20:20:00.000-07:00

January 27th Darmstadt, Germany @ Oetinger Villa: Show is in a punkified mansion. Check email. Soundcheck. Sleep in upstairs room. Eat soup and bread. Sleep again. Duo from Cologne play before us for a long time. I slept through it. We play good set. It's smokey, but it's been smokey everywhere since we left Italy. We break down our stuff, then I go for a walk. Walk past techno party. On my way back to Oetinger Villa I run into Markus(our host), Mark, Daun and John. They were headed to the party so I went with them. They told me they had left a note for me that said, "Went to techno party. Back in 2 hours." They had locked me out. At the party we stowed our coats and danced for hours. Someone I think asked me if I was gay. People really danced. Good music. We drank caipirinhas. Woke Markus at 5am, he was trashed. Walked home. Took cold shower and went to bed.

January 26th Berlin, Germany @ NBI: No breakfast because Markus was too hungover. We called him so he would come pay us. Tomas said, "We're running late. We have to go. Bye." Slept in van. Arrived in Berlin. Cool, small, red club with psychedelic lighting. Tiny stage. We snack, eat pasta, soundcheck. Young local post-rock band opens. Hang out with Rachel and her husband. Show was on the floor. Good crowd for the small room on a Sunday. Super fun, best show so far! Drive to Rachel's. Top floor, no elevator. Cold. Slanted ceilings. Check email. Watch YouTube videos, play Uno, listen to radio, drink tea. Daun and Mark sleep on cubes pushed together. Donny and I share bed.

Offshore Euro Tour continued

2009-04-27T19:57:00.000-07:00

January 25th Lausanne, Switzerland: Wake at 9 to hang out with Garret, who never shows up. I eat breakfast, then walk around briefly in the freezing cold with John. Then back to hotel to try to nap until time to leave. Daun won't take the elevator today because she had a dream she got stuck in one. Everyone else partied too hard last night, so it's a quiet van ride and I sleep. Wake up in Lausanne at big rock club in strip mall by dead animal museum. Load in down big steps, soundcheck, snack. The computer in the club won't work so we all take turns on Tomas'. I nap, then eat amazing mock-meat and mushroom curry, along with bread, the best salad of tour, and wine which I had to decline because John gave me a Z-pack to kick my cough. Then there's a photo shoot, and Dan does an interview. Local openers Sigurd are the best band we play with on tour. Sigurd sound like Shellac I suppose. It's good. We play longest set yet, concluding with A Light in August. First time we've played that. Set felt awkward, as Dan changed things around a bit, but we played really well and had fun. One of the best shows of tour. Daun gets a "Lausanne Rock City" t-shirt. Swiss booking agent says we should do costume change for Offshore. He's turned off by the new material I think. We head to Jeunotel, a hostel with bunkbeds. Hormones are raging. Everyone complains of being horny and then quickly falls asleep.
Jaunry 26th Paris, France @ Le Fleche D'or: Eat bread and jam in hostel cafeteria. Sleep on way to Paris. Dan wakes me and points out the Eiffel Tower on the horizon. We load in. Cool club with haphazard decor, including a bus for a balcony. We missed soundcheck, so we take the subway to Bastille monument and walk around the beautiful streets at night. Dan gets capuccino. Return to club for our meal. Gorgeous waitress. Wine, rice, steamed veggies, bread. I nap upstairs. Sokos, a fun French duo w/ cute chanteuse, play catchy set. Bad Seattle band with backing tapes play too. Mark's ex is there, and so is Daun's friend from Chattanooga. We only play Offshore and Becloud. Then we're rushed off the stage as the club turns into a disco at midnight. We stand around for what seems like hours before John, Dan and I go to Benji's cramped cold apartment. Dan sleeps on wet blankets on the floor.

Offshore Euro Tour part 6

2009-04-26T19:39:00.000-07:00

January 23rd Innsbrook, Austria @ PMK: Go over to the other apartment that the rest of the crew slept at. Eat baguettes with olive oil spread, nutella, homemade jam. Drink multivitamin juice (made from 15 fruit juices). A crazy kitty plays with us. Drive about 10 minutes and we're in Germany. Strassbourg has alternated betweenGerman and French territory throughout history. Tunnels everywhere in the Alps. There hasn't been enough snow in the Alps for good skiing we're told. It will snow 1 meter tonight. Walk around beautiful shopping district of Innsbrook, since we arrived too early to load in to the club. It's cold. It's cold in the club as well when we're finally able to get in. Soundcheck on tiny stage. Eat salad and pasta made by senile promoter. I nap in two chairs pushed together. The soundman plays a mix of Siouxsie and Joy Division which I enjoy. Small room, decent crowd. I can hear myself well and have a good show. The 3 sick bandmembers- Donny, Dan and I sleep in 250 year old apartment, in Iris' room. The ceiling used to be covered in frescos. Some drunk yokels threw snowballs at us on our way to the apartment. The toilet here, as I've learned is common in this part of the world, has the shit shelf, or poop ledge or whatever you call it. We're too sick to consider smoking the weed we're offered. We can't find the "@" or the "L" keys on the computer at the apartment. We watch "C'mon Bears" video on YouTube made by Donny's friends, then go to sleep.

January 24th Zurich, Switzerland: Wake at noon and meet outside at the van. I sleep most of the drive. Border crossing was easy. Arrive at the club/restaurant, and it smells strongly of hash. There is a sign hanging which reads "hash is illegal" in German. John asks Alex, the promoter, if hash is legal. Alex replies, "I can't get you hash; I can get you weed." We do extensive soundcheck. The club has a washer AND a dryer (dryers seem to be a rarity in Europe), so we do laundry. We eat an incredible meal(first tofu of the trip), all organic, even the wine. I'm told there are no sulfites in European wine. We go check in at Otter Hotel. We get the "Pool" room, "Africa" room, and my room is "Heaven and Hell." I take a quick nap, then we return to play the show. Opening local band sound a bit like Mogwai. We can't hear well on stage, and much of the crowd leaves early to catch the last train. The people that stayed late seemed to like us however, and we made 450 on merch sales. This is our highest paid show of tour. Venue is right on lake Zurich. Garret showed up to the show! Back to hotel where I shower and sleep while the rest smoke, drink and watch porn on tv. The cars here are big, like U.S. cars, a sharp contrast from the skooters and Smart cars that dominated Italy's streets. Zurich has nice architecture. Lots of nice gothic churches, and the opera house was ornate as well. Swiss keys are space-age. We're told you can drink from the decorative fountains here, and that there's money under the streets.

Offshore Euro Tour Part 5

2009-04-25T17:52:00.000-07:00

January 21 Grenoble, France: Wake early. Can't get the door open to leave the hotel room. John tries, I try, Mark tries. Heath says to turn the lock to the left. With much force, this works. Foggy still. Sleep during drive. 42 Euro toll to go through longest tunnel ever from Italy into France. We receive a speeding ticket immediately upon exiting the tunnel. The ticket has a photo of us speeding through the tunnel on it. The scenery is mountains, tunnel, mountains, tunnel, repeat. Show is on campus. We play with French shoe-gazers For the Chosen Few. Silvi is the friendly drummer. We play foosball aka "baby foot." Eat baguettes and quiche, hummus and tabouli. The computers here won't let me check hotmail. There's a music trivia game between bands. We play a less than dazzling set. We're tired. Show ends early and we head to student housing. Watch the Colts on tv at 2am.
January 22 Strausbourg, France @ Molodoi: Eat delecious chocolate filled croissants and drink tea. Walk around grenoble. It's surrounded by mountains. The fancy lifts to go up one of the mountains (Mark calls them "spaceballs") are unfortunately closed for the winter. Take shower and hop in the van. Colts won last night and are going to the Superbowl. Arrive at club. It's closed, so we walk in the freezing cold to a neighborhood bar where some old folks are hanging out and drinking. Little did we know that later on we would sleep on the 6th floor of this very building (no elevator). Venue is a huge warehouse with a balcony running the length of the room. They draw a curtain to make the room 1/3 the normal size. We eat baguettes and a delicious vegan dinner with cous cous and seitan. Short soundcheck, just a vocal P.A. The local band soundcheck. It's their first show. They sound sort of brit-pop to me, and they're called A Second of June. The drummer wears white gloves while setting up his nice new drumset. He has trouble with time keeping however. We see a John Wilkes Booze poster. The bartender looks like Amelie. Bar sells out of booze. 80 people paid at the door. We play our best show thus far. Drunk blogger smokes out the band with hash. I head to apartment with the high folks. Mark is loud and I'm afraid we're making it hard for our hosts to sleep. We check email and play Uno.

Offshore Euro Tour

2009-04-24T16:13:00.000-07:00

January 19th Pescara, Italy @ Wake Up: I wake up early. No clocks in the hotels. Use bidet for the first time in my life. Then take shower. Breakfast is 15 varieties of cookies, and I try the coffee yogurt. Get dropped off at the Coloseo. Rome is beautiful. We see Pantheon, Trevi fountain, pay 1 Euro to pee at tomb of unknown soldier. Eat Pizza. Drive to Pescara. It feels like Indianapolis, in contrast to the ancient winding streets of Rome. Soundcheck, then eat more pizza, chips, nuts, fruit, popcorn, then off to the restaurant. I get to ride in tiny Italian car with Francesca and Marianna. They teach me that Italians call roller coasters, "Russian mountains." At the restaurant we eat a wide assortment of vegan appetizers along with some wine with gasosa (lemon soda water). Then comes spinach pesto pasta. Then we go to the bar downstairs for drinks: espresso, te, grappa, sambuca. Back to the venue to play. Private club with a 5 Euro/year membership dues. We have to become members. Turns into a dance club after the show. Jocky dudes are forward with Daun on dancefloor. Poor merch sales. Quotes of the night from one friendly wasted local: "do you do?" "You are Lars Ulrich!" "Fight fire with fire!" "Language Italia. Language America. Where?" Club closes at 5am. Mark gets told to be quiet at hotel.

January 20th Ravenna, Italy @ Bronson : Check out is at noon. No probelm. Yeah right, we overslept! Went to breakfast with Paulo and Marianna. More pizza. Ugh. Better than cookies though. Drive through the thickest fog in Ravenna, couldn't see the city at all. Load in, soundcheck. Big place. Amazing spread of snacks, incluing bread with olive oil and spices, and tapanade, bacardi breezers. The Green Room is very cold, but stocked with fruit and beverages. Then to dinner at pizzeria. Gnocchi marinara, with wine and chocolate and lemon liquors. Play show to large receptive crowd. Meet Simona who says I look like Sick Boy from Trainspotting. Dance to loud good dance music after the show. Club closes at 5am. Ravenna is full of attractive people, and they're less creepy than in Pescara. Stay up late again. Take shower, watch the nudey channel and sleep for 4 hours. Have to wake up at 9am to hit the road.

Offshore Euro Tour aka Clownin' on Europe

2009-04-20T20:24:00.000-07:00

January 17th Firenze, Italy @ Sintetika: Wake up several times. Feeling sick in the throat. Can't fall asleep again. Get up at 6AM and walk around cold morning. Lot's of cyclists out riding in the big bike lane. The cars are all tiny, lots of scooters, and everyone drives CRAZY, much worse than chicago. Streets are winding and poorly marked. Impossible to imagine touring here before GPS. Back at hotel take shower, eat tiny crunchy toast with jam and nutella for breakfast. Drive to Florence. Walk around, get Euros at ATM, buy expensive gelato (yum, pistacchio and mango) in touristy centro. See Duomo! Beautiful!!! Narrow cobblestone streets. I'm really in Europe! Load in to Sintetika. It's cold. We're still jet-lagged and starving. I take the opportunity to use a squat toilet. And later, finally, the food is served. Delicious penne marinara w/hot pepper oil topping. Bread and wine too. We gorge ourselves, then find out that that was only the first course. We're served "reboleta," a florence-only specialty. Re-boiled bread and veggies (white beans). Vegan and good. And then, PIZZA! Hundreds of people at show. We play better, but not great yet. Lots of sales, and we give phony autographs: "Ben Swanson" and other random scribbles. Then dancing to a bad DJ playing OK music. I get my first European cheek kiss. Almost weren't let into hotel by the worker. At hotel we watch live phone sex show and Beast Master dubbed in Italian. I can't figure out how to flush the toilet.

January 18th Roma, Italy @ Circulo Del Artist: Wake up late for check out. Drink tiny espresso. Nutella is vegan here and it's called "Kakao." Drive to Rome. Beautiful wine country outside. Lots of cool houses on hills. Sheep farms. Pass Ikea on the way. Rome is awesome! Grafitti everywhere. Running water fountains (for drinking I guess) that look like fire hydrants. We go to the huge Basilica di San Giovanni. There's a huge wall/aquaduct running through town. Orange and lemon trees everywhere. We're late to sound check as a result of our adventures in the confusing streets (no grid here). Tomas and some folks have already loaded in our gear. Long soundcheck, very pro. Treated to dinner in the pizzaria attached to the club. I order water (naturale, not fizzy) and pizza funghi, no mozarella. It's big, thin, unsliced, cripsy and slightly burnt with salty mushrooms. And delicious! I eat and feel woozy. Nap in the cold van. Wake in timeto catch the openers: saxophonist, drummer and a guy who plays bass and guitar at the same time. We play great (finally) and to large crowd! Lot's of sales, goofy autographs, and kind words. We drink Sambuca: thick, clear, strong and tasty. We load up a box with our green room spread of chocolate, candies, fruits, etc. We also had pineapply juice, beer, wine (ofcourse), delicious lemon soda, fizzy water and tea. Sandwiches and pastries too. How can we ever tour the states again afer this? At hotel, TVs don't have reception, so we party on the balcony of Daun/Donny's 3rd floor suite. It's mild, 3AM, January and I'm outside in a t-shirt!

Offshore Euro Tour first show

2009-04-20T19:09:00.000-07:00

January 16th, Cremona, Italy: Arrive in Brussels, rush through airport (customs was cake, except Daun left her coat behind in the rush) to make connecting flight to Milan. We're literally running through the airport. Tiny plane. Served chocolates, tiny cheese sandwiches, yogurt. I was starving and knew it would be difficult to be vegan and still eat healthy in Europe, so I ate everything. Flew over the Alps! Incredible! Landed in foggy Milan. Italy has foggy winters. Still starving and feeling an itchy throat, I needed food and sleep. I had no Euros and couldn't find anything remotely vegan in the airport to eat anyway. We met Tomas, our driver. Awesome black Sprinter van! We drive to Cremona for first show. Load in to teatro and set up our gear. Donny borrows a bass from Fabio, the soundman. Huge spread of fruits, chocolates and wine in the green room. Treated to 3 course meal at Gourmet restaurant. The more adventurous of us try the horse meat. I eat rice and funghi, and a big salad. The show was not great. We were all very tired and jet-lagged, the rental amps were new to us, and it was the first show ever with this line-up. Still we sell lots of merch, are treated great by everyone, and we go to the hotel to FINALLY SLEEP! Tiny elevator. I room with Tomas who doesn't use the bedframe, and throws the mattress on the floor.

Offshore Euro Tour 2007

2009-04-19T12:42:00.000-07:00

January 14 2007: Jason drove us to the Indianapolis airport. Our Flight to Chicago was delayed and we were going to miss our connection to Frankfurt, so we took the next flight to Chicago and spent the night with Donny and Shelly. Donny was not allowed on his flight from Chicago to Frankfurt because he did not take the flight from Indy to Chicago, which apparently you're not allowed to do. In Chicago we ate at a Mexican restaurant while listening to a sweet karaoke band. We drank tea at Donny's apartment , watched Little Miss Sunshine and fell asleep on the floor. My cough is just beginning to set in.
p.s. Our keyboard somehow never made it to Chicago. American Airlines had no record in their computer of it ever existing.
January 15 2007: We ate breakfast at a diner near Donny's, then some of us took the train to O'Hare, while Dan, John and Donny took most of the gear in Shelly's car. Dan couldn't find his bag upon arrival at O'Hare, so after a $60 cab ride back to Donny's apartment Dan found his bag sitting on the curb where he had accidentally left it. Check in at O'Hare was smooth. 8 hour ride to Brussels. My veggie meal I had ordered was not available so I got double rolls, salad and cookies. Then they brought me some cheese crackers and grapes from business class. Drank wine and watched Invincible. Litened to decent '80's station, but it repeated after an hour. Read. No sleep!
Donny's luggage had been checked in at Chicago the day before, onto the flight he was not allowed to take. His luggage was lost. Perhaps it had gone to Frankfurt, or Brussels, or Milan??? He had no extra clothes and no bass.

EDM test

2009-04-01T15:33:00.001-07:00

early day miners test